PARABENS REVIEWED

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Here is the finally summary about parabens. It's the culmination of all the Paraben Posts 1-6 that I had written. Now the links are in one easy post. I am still receiving a lot (I mean A LOT) of emails about parabens and their safety (or lack of safety). I've responded in the comments sections to these questions as well.

So click on the Parts below to read the posts.A suggestion: you might want to right-click and "open in a new tab" if you want to keep this page open.

Part 1: This is just an introduction to the series that I did when I first set out to write about parabens and their "controversial" uses in skincare products.

Part 2: This is a nice primer to the background on parabens. Their chemical profile, what they are and what they are doing in products. It's always best to start with something concrete, huh? We'll get into the controversy in following posts . . .

Part 3: This post is dedicated to clarifying just who is saying what. What's all the fuss? Haven't heard of parabens, then maybe you should start hearing what others are so up in arms about (or maybe not!).

Part 4: Here is a nice perspective using parabens to illustrate the divergences among "the Industry vs Science vs Reality". It's important to know, what's "popularly known" doesn't make it the least bit true! The skincare industry is certainly a place where these forces are unfortunately most at odds!

Part 5: This post on parabens is a summary of what I think. I try to put the whole paraben debacle into perspective. There are a ton of "bad things" that are thrown at our body systems everyday, but our body's have a great ability to fight these things off (and sometimes its a good thing to be exposed to "bad things"). I say this because a tactic used by "fear mongers" (maybe they learned from the Bush administration, sorry, I had to!!) is bombarding you with "the dangers of this or that ingredient" but it is taken out of context from the truth and the real science behind any sort of claim.

Part 6: Alas, the final post on parabens (for now at least!). This post discusses the ingredients that you should NOT mix parabens with, as well as, other non-paraben combos that should not be used in skincare products since they release higher amounts of formaldehyde.

3 comments

Peter
said...

It's easy to say that all the controversy is based on inconclusive evidence. However, there should be a point at which we choose to be SAFE rather than take a chance with something that could potentially be very dangerous.

Europe, for example, has chosen to be safe. All products containing parabens have been banned from European markets.

Kudos for the debunking.I too am sometimes offended by all fear that people have over such tiny tiny issues.

What cause or exacerbates most diseases in my mind is stress and there is nothing on earth more stressful than trying to figure what to avoid and obsess over all the unhealthy things surrounding us. Just take it day by day and little by little.

It is not true that Europe has banned parabens from use in the skin care products. We have just bought, a week ago, brand new creme and skin lotion (Eucerin) for our son, who has ekcema (atopic dermatitis). It has all three most common parabens in it.